Page 18 of Passion and Payback

“Yes…either.”

“I woke up a few times yelling warnings to people in my dreams,” he said with a low chuckle.

“Nice to see you’ve got a sense of humor about it,” I said dryly. “No, really, it is. I wish I could.”

“Everyone finds their way to handle things. Whether that’s coming up with jokes to make it seem less bad, bottling it all up and dealing with it on your own, getting into drugs and drinking, getting way too pissed at the world.”

“You know, most of those don’t sound too great.”

“They’re not, but that’s how I see people dealing with them. It looks like you’ve been doing your best to put your life back together, trying to get all the broken pieces and put them back together as best you can.”

I let out a shaky, watery laugh. “Oh yeah, and look howgreatI’m doing at that. Making an even bigger mess.”

“There are worse ways, even worse than the ones I listed before,” he said with a shrug, reaching out slowly toward my hand. I gave him a small smile to tell him it was perfectly fine to touch me, and he pulled my hand closer.

“Hmm, doesn’t look too bad. I don’t see any blistering, so you should be fine. Keep it under the water for the next ten minutes, then see if that first aid kit in your bathroom has anything,” he said. “I was never trained as a medic, but I saw enough to pick up some things.”

“Good enough for me,” I said. “So…about dinner.”

He smiled. “Is that Indian place still around here?”

“Yeah, want some?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, uh, one quick question.”

“What’s up?”

“You said there were worse ways than all the other stuff you said.”

“Mhmm.”

“Like what?”

It was a genuine question, but the way he hesitated and continued hesitating made me even more curious. What could be so bad that he didn’t want to say it aloud? And why did he have a strange, hard glint in his eyes while he waited?

“Maybe ‘worse’ wasn’t quite the way to say it,” he said after a moment and then grimaced. “It…let’s focus on your hand and then food.”

“Seriously, Kai?”

“I…it’s a whole story I really don’t want to go into right now, alright? Let’s get you feeling better and some food in our stomachs. And maybe a few drinks if you’re up for it.”

“Fine, but no beer. Whiskey or gin and tonics.”

“You aren’t going to hear me complain about whiskey.”

“Yeah, well, you definitely won’t complain about the bottle I’ve been keeping for when you showed up.”

“Even better.”

KAI

With my mouth full of fire and flavor, I dropped the fork into the takeout container and looked at Hunter. After treating his hand and going to get the food, he spent most of the time in a quiet mood. I could see him wrestling with everything that had happened, and I was frustrated that I could do nothing to help him.

It had all started because a group of people attacked him and Lucas, stealing what peace and security Hunter had built in his life. His entire childhood had been marked by trying to avoid his parents, and when the inevitable happened and they managed to corner him, it was learning how to smile through the pain. He had gotten past all that, and for what? A group of fuckers to come along and steal it all away.

Now he was so fucked in the head that a simple kitchen accident had him spiraling into feelings of guilt and shame. Admittedly, he had surprised the hell out of me, turning on me when I tried to pull him away from the hot pan. Not one of my instincts had realized what might happen before Hunter twisted in my grip and launched a counterattack against what he thought was a threat.

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